


stories we tell ourselves

by arachnistar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - World War II, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 15:45:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7763677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arachnistar/pseuds/arachnistar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The letter started like all of Luna’s letters. [WWII AU]</p>
            </blockquote>





	stories we tell ourselves

**Author's Note:**

> Written for thinbottomedcauldron over on tumblr for the 3-sentence AU fic meme. Her prompt was "Ginny and Luna, set during WWII, still magic or not, your choice." It turned out longer than expected because I can't write short fics to save my life.

The letter started like all of Luna’s letters: with a story and an illustration of something Ginny could scarcely put words to. This time that something looked like the horrid offspring of a canary and a raccoon rolled in the garbage before skittering off to some dark corner.

_Today I found a murkpie. Have I ever told you about them? They’re about the size of housecats, except they look nothing like cats (see attached sketch), and they live in the streets of London in large family packs. Well, the one I found was sitting alone in an alley, crying and clutching a coin. You see, sometimes the young ones leave their families for a bit and then they end up losing their group. So of course I offered to help it find its way home. It tried to bite me, but it’s okay, it was scared and their bites only hurt a little._

Ginny smiled as she settled down on her cot to read the rest, feeling light for the first time since waking up. It had been a long day – Fred had lost an ear, one of the searchlights had broken down, and the Germans had pushed closer – but Luna’s letters never failed to cheer her.

\--

The first time Ginny met Luna, she was also telling a story.

This was back in London, after the sirens rang, not for the first time and not for the last, beckoning all to head to safety. Ginny was out wandering far from her home and their reinforced basement after an argument with her mum, so she entered the unfamiliar shelter alone. She ended up against one of the walls near a group of trembling children. Some of them were crying.

Ginny didn’t pay them much attention at first, as she was busy fretting over what her mum would say when she got home. She was probably going out of her mind with worry; she always did when one of them was out of the house during an air raid even though London was dotted with shelters. It had only gotten worse after Bill and Charlie had left for the war. She would need to do damage control once she got home and hopefully then she could get back to convincing her mum to let her take a job.

A sob cut the air. Ginny blinked and looked over at the group of kids. Before she could go over there and try to reassure the kid, someone else stepped over.  

“Shh, it’s okay.” She was around sixteen like Ginny, with blonde hair and pretty features. Also strangely, a necklace of bottle caps and a pair of radish earrings. Ginny couldn’t help but stare. Where did she even get radish earrings? “The thestrals are watching over us.”

“What’s a thestral?” 

“Oh, they’re magnificent creatures. They look a little like horses, in the same way that dragons look like lizards. But they’ve got these massive wings, so they can fly. They’ve been doing their best to protect the city from the bombs. Of course they can’t be everywhere, but they like children and they’ll make sure nothing falls on us.”

“I’ve never seen one of those.” One of the older kids, who had passed the point of believing in Santa Claus and leprechauns and was starting to believe in grown-up things like being sensible and acknowledging mortality, piped in.

“No, you wouldn’t have.” The girl nodded. She seemed to have missed the kid’s suspicion or else she didn’t mind it, Ginny wasn’t sure which was more likely. “They’re invisible to most people. It’s only the people who’ve seen someone die who can see them.”

There was some muttering among the children as they decided whether to believe the tale or not. Eventually they nodded.

“Now why don’t I tell you about crumple-horned snorkacks?”

It turned out crumple-horned snorkacks were not defending the city from air raids like the thestrals. They were out on the frontlines, guiding lost and wounded soldiers to safety and disappearing before anyone else could see them.

Ginny listened to this nonsense, a step away from calling her out on the tall tale but unwilling to interrupt the narrative either. For better or worse, she was invested in the girl’s story about the weary survivor and his mythical guide. Once the story was over, the children broke off into small groups and the girl was left alone. Ginny walked over and tapped the girl on the shoulder.

“You know that’s not how the war really is, right?” And then, because they were sixteen and what did sixteen year-old girls know of war, she added, “I should know. I have brothers out there.”

The girl gave her a small smile. “But who says that there isn’t more to the world that we just can’t see? It’s foolish to believe we know everything.” Then she looked over at the children. Ginny would never forget the soft kindness in her face at that moment. Later she would say this was the moment she fell in love though she wouldn’t think about it that way until years later. “Anyway, it helps the kids feel better.”

And the girl was right. The children were still scared, everyone was those days, but they weren’t shaking quite as much and the tears had stopped. Ginny still doubted the existence of thestrals and crumple-horned snorkacks, but she couldn’t argue with the results. In the way she made most of her judgments, swiftly and mercilessly, she decided she liked this girl.

“My name’s Ginny Weasley.”

The girl smiled, so incandescent it lit up Ginny’s stomach, and said, “Luna Lovegood.”

They spent the rest of the air raid talking to each other, backs pressed against the wall. Once the raid was over and they were declared safe to leave, Ginny hurried home. Her mum had quite the lecture waiting for her, once the relieved hugs were over, but was pacified at learning Ginny had made a new friend and urged her to bring her home sometime.

\--

Luna finished telling the tale of the lost murkpie – there was a happy reunion where the mother had swatted its lost child behind the ears before patting them all over – and moved into describing the garden she was attempting to plant in her windowsill. She was also volunteering at one of the shelters in her neighborhood, her part in the war effort because if Ginny was doing her best to help, then so would she.

It was signed in the usual way. _With love_ and no name, in case it fell into the wrong hands. Ginny pressed the paper to her lips briefly. She missed Luna the way she had missed her brothers, like something essential had been robbed of her. But she had sworn that she would help fight this war until it was over, just like her brothers though their service wasn’t voluntary. She would have to wait to see Luna until then.

She turned the paper over and spotted one final message from Luna.

_I’ve been spending a lot of time with your mum lately, having tea and telling her about the creatures I’ve seen. You should write her more. She really misses you._

Ginny sighed. She had barely spoken to her mum since informing her of her decision to enlist. It had precipitated an argument that had turned into a stony silence between them. They’d made an uneasy peace right before Ginny’s departure, hugs and kisses were exchanged, but she hadn’t written a letter yet. She just didn’t know what to say to her mum and that excuse had kept her from writing for six months now.

Ginny headed to her desk. She wanted to write to Luna first, tell her about Neville’s growing courage, about beating the men at cards, about a dozen other things that had happened, but Ginny had a feeling Luna would prefer her to write the other letter first. And she really did miss her mum.

So she pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and a quill and started, _Dear Mum._  

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](http://proofthatihaveaheart.tumblr.com/) if you want.


End file.
